Ear muff



Feb. 11, 1936. E. w. HERMANN EAR MUFF Filed March 12, 1935 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 11, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE" 3 Claims.

This invention relates to ear muffs and its general object is to provide muffs that can be detachably secured to the collar of a coat and be moved to a position for use or to an inoperative position, and when in the latter position will be concealed from view by the collar.

A further object of the invention is to provide muffs that will amply protect the ears, in that each muff completely encloses or covers the ear and is held against casual movement in either operative or inoperative positions.

Another object of the invention is to provide ear muffs of the character set forth, that are simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to attach to a coat collar or the like, and extremely eflicient in use and service.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing my invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawing wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view illustrating the application of my ear muffs to a coat collar.

Figure 2 is a View showing one of my muffs in an inoperative position in full lines and in operative position in dotted lines.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken approximately on line 33 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken approximately on line 4-4 of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring to the drawing in detail, the letter A indicates the collar of a coat which is preferably an outer or overcoat, and my muffs are designed to be detachably secured to the collar so that when the latter is turned up, the muffs can be moved in a position for use or for disposal about the ears of the user.

Each muff includes a substantially U-shaped frame I that is preferably formed from a single strand of relatively stiff wire, and secured to the frame is a covering 2 disposed to provide a chamber of a size to receive and cover the ear. The covering is preferably provided with a hem through which is trained the frame I and the latter is shown as having outwardly bulged arms in order to shape the covering in substantial oval formation.

The ends of the arms of the frame are directed outwardly and thence bent at right angles upon themselves. The outwardly directed portions provide trunnions 3 and the right angled bent portions which are indicated by the reference numeral 4 cooperate therewith to form hooks as best shown in Figure 3.

Received by each of the hooked ends of the frame 1 are substantially flat housings, each of which includes a cup-shaped member 5, and telescopically received within the flange 6 thereof is the flange l of a cap 8.

The cup-shaped members are provided with centrally arranged openings to receive the hooked ends of the frame, with the trunnions 3 mounted in the openings for pivotal movement with respect thereto, and secured within each of the housings is a leaf spring 9 which is bent to provide overlapping tongues l0. Disposed between the tongues ll! of the leaf springs are the right angle bent end portions 4 and of course the tongues I0 bear against the portions 4 for holding the muffs in either an inoperative position, or in a position for use. When in the former position, the portions 4 are disposed downwardly as shown in full lines in Figure 4 and when in the other position the portions 4 are disposed upwardly as shown in dotted lines, consequently the mufis are held against casual movement in either of their positions. The leaf springs may be riveted to the flanges 1 of the caps, as shown.

In order to secure the mufis to the collar, I provide each of the housings with penetrating prongs ll, there being a pair of prongs for each housing and which extend outwardly therefrom in parallelism with respect to each other. The prongs are preferably fixed to the flanges 6 of the cup-shaped members 5.

From the foregoing, it will be obvious that the muffs are detachably associated with respect to the collar of an overcoat through the instrumentality of the penetrating prongs I I, and when in use are moved to the dotted line position of Figure 1 for the purpose of receiving and covering the ears of the user. However, when the muffs are disposed to an inoperative position as shown in full lines in Figure 1, and the collar of the coat is turned down, the muffs will be concealed from view.

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features of my invention will be readily apparent.

I desire it to be understood that I may make changes in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An ear mufi' comprising a covering for the ear, a frame for the covering, trunnions included in said frame, means to be detachably secured to 'a garment of the user and having the trunnions 'mounted therein for pivotal movement, means formed on the trunnions, and means arranged in the first mentioned means for engagement with the second mentioned means for holding the covering in operative or inoperative positions.

2.'An ear muff comprising a covering zinclud ing a chamber to receive and enclose the ear,

and spring means arranged in the pronged means and engageable with the right angled bent ends to hold the covering in operative or inoperative positions. r

3. An ear muff comprising a covering including a chamber to receive and enclose the ear, a

substantially U-shaped frame for the covering to hold the latter in chamber formation, housing means having openings arranged therein, trunnions formed on the frame and journalled in the openings, right angled bent ends formed on the trunnions and arranged in the housing means, and leaf springs secured in the housing means and including tongues engageable with the right angle bent ends to hold the covering in either one of two positions, and means for the housing means for securing the latter to a garment of the user.

EMIL w. HERMANN. 2 

